Investigating Young Children’s Conceptualizations of Disability and Race: An Intersectional, Multiplane Critique

Education researchers have extensively documented young children’s capacity to exhibit “bias” in relation to disability or race. By and large, data generation has focused on children’s awareness and attitudes about disability or race, rather than how interactions and structures construct and reinforce them. Bridging disability critical race theory (DisCrit) and sociocultural perspectives, this essay proposes the need for intersectional, multiplane qualitative data generation in studying young children’s disability and race conceptualizations to account for the ways intersecting, oppressive ideologies are perpetuated in young children’s worlds. In this essay, I briefly describe and critique extant data generation practices, concluding with possibilities for future investigations.